“Don’t decide a ebook by its cowl.” A small youngster dressed as legally distinct Sailor Moon chirped this trite little phrase at me about an hour into Rabbit and Bear’s Suikoden successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. I’m undecided after I realized the adage applies to Hundred Heroes itself as a lot because it did to regardless of the youngster was speaking about. It would’ve been after I met a cleric whose vices included violence and foul language; however every time it was, it inspired me to miss the misgivings Hundred Heroes’ poor first impressions raised in me, and there have been lots. Hundred Heroes adheres a bit too intently to outdated design conventions, however the energy of its writing and characters makes up for its short-sightedness.
Rabbit and Bear had been critical after they promised a contemporary Suikoden-like. You play as Nowa, a member of the Eltisweiss Watch mercenary corps dedicated to holding the peace. What begins as a piddling collection of errands for close by villages quickly turns into one thing extra critical as Nowa and the Watch get drawn into conflicts that threaten their beliefs and the complete world. Additionally, like Suikoden, Hundred Heroes divides its time between world exploration, the place you decide up quests and new characters, battles, and dungeon crawling, the latter of which is principally an excuse for extra battles.
Hundred Heroes additionally sticks fairly near Suikoden 2’s fight with a couple of refreshing expansions. Your staff contains as much as six energetic characters with abilities you may increase with runes, which grant totally different skills and buffs, and every character will get a number of rune slots that enable for intensive customization. The system is satisfying in itself however comes into its personal when you begin linking character assaults and forming distinctive combos.
Because the identify suggests, recruiting the sport’s 100-plus heroes performs an enormous function. Some be a part of mechanically, however the extra attention-grabbing ones have a quest related to them that provides a bit extra perception into their persona and place on the planet. They usually play a minor function within the story after that, however their detailed sprite animations and voiced traces nonetheless make them really feel like a part of the story and never an afterthought.
The setup sounds too acquainted, however regardless of author Yoshitaka Murayama drawing clear inspiration from his earlier works, Hundred Heroes by no means feels spinoff and ultimately surpasses its supply materials. It owes a lot of its persona to that sturdy forged of brilliantly written characters and a willingness to embrace humor and the ridiculous as a solution to lower deeper with its critical themes of autonomy and fairness.
Additionally they save Hundred Heroes from itself. Sluggish traversal, an empty world map, and tedious dungeons make Hundred Heroes extra irritating than it needs to be, however the promise of a brand new character vignette or extra plot development was at all times sufficient to maintain me urgent ahead.
Hundred Heroes expands Suikoden’s base-building function with new guilds and teams in your celebration members to kind. At a look, that looks like busywork, and it’s. However it additionally represents one thing deeper. Your fortress is a microcosm of Hundred Heroes’ themes, a small society of people that look, act, and suppose nothing alike however who respect one another and battle for the appropriate to reside freely, with out hate.
In battle, a sturdy AI system enables you to program instructions and let your celebration cope with weaker enemies based mostly on the way you’ve custom-made their runes. Boss fights are simply advanced sufficient that they demand your full consideration, although, thanks in some half to the gimmick function. These reside as much as their identify, for higher and worse, resembling making you guess the place an enemy will transfer or forcing you to assault a particular object. They’re a pleasant change of tempo at first however rapidly outstay their welcome.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is an efficient reminder of why the RPG style left some elements of its Golden Age behind. It’s additionally a sworn statement to what makes the style particular and the ability of fine storytelling to maneuver and encourage. Admittedly, inflexible adherence to archaic buildings makes these first impressions robust to look previous, however a inventive battle system, intensive celebration customization, and top-notch writing make up for the retro jank.
